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Ruben De Ronde discusses his new album "Togetherr" with Rodg

Ruben De Ronde is known for his progressive, trance taste that strikes a stunning unique musical balance. Based in the Netherlands, he has had releases on Armada Music and has performed at the global circuit shows at A State Of Trance tours with Armin van Buuren. We got a chance to meet with him for the first time at Dreamstate in San Francisco, CA.

How did you get into music in the beginning?

By listening to the radio to be honest. There was a radio show called "Mark and Dark" which is at night in the Netherlands. Every Thursday there was a min-mix of twenty minutes where they would play the freshest, new tunes. I got hooked by that and as soon as I heard that I knew I wanted to do that as well so I started DJing and later on starting making music.

Who or what would you say is your biggest musical inspiration?

I think it's going to be cheesy but it's Armin van Buuren for sure. The passion he has for music really radiates into what I do for music as well. He always pushes me to do more and better so he's the guy I really look up to the most. Also, I go in the studio with his tips, advices, etc.

Talk to us about your record ‘Save Me’.

I do this production feed that I stream live on Twitch. I was just making something new with more bounce to it than normally. In the meanwhile there were some viewers making some comments so I was really working with the views on the stream. As soon as I was done with the musical part I went to Splice which is a website where you can download samples and I was going through the vocals there and made it my own. The story behind that is that I made it with people on Twitch, so it's really a community kind of track.

Are you a gamer?

Yes, I'm on Twitch all the time. I play Destiny. I met a guy that I watch a lot on Twitch. I got into gaming because Armin was always playing Destiny.

How was your ‘Save Me’ tour been so far?

It's been great so far. I think it started in Los Angeles. It went to America, then it went to Asia like Vietnam and Malaysia, now I'm back here.

Talk to us about your Statement Music collection with Selected Labels & BuddhatoBuddha?

This is something that pretty much started on Twitch as well. People were asking me if I had any merchandise, and I was like no I don't. So I talked to some guys from BuddhatoBuddha which is a really nice clothing brand. They also have a label called Selected. So we started like shooting up a lot of ideas and did a design and that's how it came together. I'm kind of a fashionista as well so I kind of wanted something with quality and something I wanted to wear myself. Perhaps with every new season there'll be a new shirt or something.

Yes! It's going to be released on June 16. We made it for A State of Trance in Utrecht because we were asked to do a back-to-back set. We were like okay we wanted to do something else instead of just playing a regular set. We're going to make sixteen new tunes as a premiere in the set. In 4 months we created a full, new album. I don't know how we did it but we did it. That's "Togetherr" with the two R's because it's Ruben and Rodg.

How did you meet Rodg?

Rodg was an intern at Armada Music while I was still working there full-time and I don't really do that anymore now. We actually made some tunes together a long time ago and we simply had a good vibe going along in the studio and we work in the same program called Ableton Live. We had a folder we shared together and we just started making music. We have a good synergy and he's a good friend as well.

If you could collaborate with anyone who would be and why?

Eric Prydz.

Talk to us about your radio show ‘The Sound of Holland’.

This is my radio show and I make it every week together with people on Twitch. I selected my tunes already and I'm chatting with people on there. It's broadcasted everywhere globally, although it's not tunes that I would play out on my sets because they're more laid back - it's just a platform for producers that don't get out with releases. There's a little part in every episode where there's an Easter Egg in there. That's all I'm going to say.

What is one thing you are currently obsessed with?

Right now I'm just obessed with making music and gaming. I'm pretty hyped about Destiny 2 in September.